Robert Campbell Snr (1769 - 1846)

Born 28 Apr 1769 in Greenock, Renfrewshire, Scotland

Husband of Sophia (Palmer) Campbell — married 17 Sep 1801 in Sydney, New South Wales (Australia)

Descendants

Died 15 Apr 1846 at age 76 in Duntroon, Colony of New South Wales (Australian Capital Territory, Australia)

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Kenneth Evans [send private message]

Biography

Robert Campbell Snr is Notable.

Robert Campbell was born on 28th April 1769 in Greenock, Renfrewshire, Scotland. He was the son of John Campbell, laird of Ashfield and writer and town clerk of Greenock, and his wife, Agnes Paterson.

Commerce

Robert joined his brother, John Campbell, in the firm of Campbell Clarke & Co. in Calcutta, India. The firm became Campbell & Co. after the Clarkes withdrew in 1799. ^[1]

Robert Campbell Snr migrated from Scotland to New South Wales.

In April 1798 Robert Campbell left in their ship, the Hunter, for New South Wales in an attempt to develop a trading connexion there. Apparently satisfied with the prospects, he sailed for India in the Barwell in August 1798, and returned to Sydney with another cargo in the Hunter in February 1800. Thus, Robert Campbell moved to the ten year-old Colony of New South Wales Australia) to open a branch of the company. ^[1][2]
At Dawes Point, aka The Rocks, the western promontory of Sydney Cove, he established Campbell's Wharves, now the site of the international passenger terminal; these were a key landmark for more than a century and a half. Robert built Australia's first shipbuilding yards in 1807, at the site of today's Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron, Kirribilli. ^[1] His name soon became synonymous with fair trading, reduced prices and generous credit, and was publicly acknowledged by small settlers and governor alike. His trade did much to ameliorate the previous pressures of scarcity and monopoly caused by the officers of the New South Wales Corps, aka The Rum Corps. ^[2] Robert and John were strong supporters of the governors, especially Captain WIlliam Bligh, suffering economically at the hands of the mutinous officers of the NSW Corps and their treasonous accomplices during the 1808-1810 coup and rebellion. ^[2]

Marriage and family

Robert married Sophia Palmer in St Phillip's Church of England (Anglican Church), Sydney on 17th September 1801. ^[3] Sophia was a sister of Commissary John Palmer. Robert and Sophia established their home behind their wharves, 'finished in an elegant manner with colonades and two fronts' and standing in its own garden. ^[2]

Robert and Sophia had five sons and two daughters:

1. John (1802-86), also a Member of the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council.
2. Robert Jnr (1804-59), also a Member of the first Legislative Council and later a Member of the Legislative Assembly.
3. Sophia (1807-09), died in early childhood
4. Charles (1810-88), also a Member of the Legislative Council.
5. Sarah (1815-), married Arthur Jeffreys, also a Member of the first Legislative Council
6. George Palmer (1818-81)
7. Frederick Marsden (1821-85)

Public office

Robert was a staunch loyalist and contributed a great deal to the colony's growth and stability

There being no banks in the colony, in May 1807 Robert was appointed treasurer to the public funds, naval officer, magistrate, and collector of taxes. The gaol and orphan funds were deposited with Campbell & Co. on its undertaking to pay interest at five per cent. ^[1]

In December 1825 he was appointed a member of the first New South Wales Legislative Council. ^[4] In January 1830, he was a member of the committee which recommended that King's schools should be founded at Sydney and Parramatta. When the Savings Bank of New South Wales was founded in 1832, Robert deposited £8,000 belonging to convicts, and £2,000 belonging to free people; upon which he had been allowing seven and a half per cent interest. He retired from the Legislative Council and from public life in 1843. ^[1]

Pastoralist

Robert was a pasturalist, owning one of today's famous sites, "Duntroon"

In 1825, James Ainslie established a sheep station called Pialligo for Robert in the area where Canberra is now situated. In 1846, Robert renamed the property Duntroon, after his ancestral Duntrune Castle, Argyll and Bute, Scotland. ^[1] He later also stocked cattle. Robert lived there increasingly after the death of his wife in 1833. ^[2]

Faith

Robert exhibited a strong faith in all he did; bred Presbyterian, he also saw the stability of the Church of England in NSW

Robert was a strong Christian and did much as a beneficiary and philanthropist in the colony. For many years he was associated with the London Missionary Society, which acknowledged his 'constant kindness and effective acts of friendship shewn towards our Society and its concerns'. In 1825 he was appointed one of the trustees for land granted to the society at Yawanba (Reid's Mistake) for an Aboriginal mission. He was also a benefactor of the Portland Head Society for the Progagation of Christian Knowledge. In later years he provided half the cost of the Church of St John the Baptist, Queanbeyan, in its original form. Bred Presbyterian, he was connected with this church's activities for many years, endowing and attending Scots Church in Sydney. In August 1828 he signed a petition for government assistance for the salary of a schoolteacher for a school connected with this church and in 1831 was signatory to a petition for government aid for support of an itinerant minister of the Scottish National Church. In 1837 he gave land and money towards the cost of building St Peter's Church, Cook's River, and contributed funds towards an Anglican Cathedral for Sydney. Other churches, at South Bargo, Yass and St Phillip's in Sydney, shared in his bounty. ^[2]

Final transaction

On 15th April 1846, Robert Campbell died at Duntroon, aged 77 years. He is buried in St John's Churchyard, Parramatta. ^[5][6][7] He was survived by six of his children, who maintained the 'Aussie' tradition Robert began.

Legacy

Robert Campbell has left, amongst other:

• Campbell, a suburb of Canberra, named in his honour.
• Duntroon homestead is today the Officers' Mess of the Royal Military College; the property being the grounds of the college.

Research note

As well as his eldest son of the same name, Robert Campbell Snr had a nephew also known as Robert Campbell Jnr, son of his brother William. Operating from Bligh Street, it was the nephew who carried his own business (Robert Campbell Junior & Company) forward as his Uncle Robert operated Campbell & Co. Nephew Robert was amrried to Margaret and had Jane, Thomas and Robert Tertius. Nephew Robert returned to England to live in 1852, leaving James Milson as his New South Wales agent.

Cannot find details of the Hunter's voyage in 1798 to create a "ship, arrived" category. Noted 10 May 2023, Alan Salt

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5} Wikipedia : Robert Campbell (1769–1846)
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5} Steven, Margaret. 'Campbell, Robert (1769–1846)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, published first in hardcopy 1966; accessed online 20 Apr 2020
3. ↑ "Australia Marriages, 1810-1980," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XTCT-RBZ : 10 February 2018), Robert Campbell and Sophia Palmer, 17 Sep 1801; citing Port Jackson, New South Wales, Australia, reference ; FHL microfilm 993,949.
4. ↑ NSW Parliament: Robert Campbell; accessed 20 Apr 2020
5. ↑ New South Wales Death Index #428/1846 V1846428 31B
6. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial ID: 128327603 Robert Campbell
7. ↑ 1846 'Family Notices', The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), 23 April, p. 3. , viewed 10 May 2023, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12886773
   DIED. Robert Campbell, Esq., on Wednesday, the 15th instant, at his Estate, Duntroon, near Queanbeyan, in the 77th year of his age.

See also

• Milson, Scott. "The Earth Brought Forth: The Milsons of Milsons Point. 4SQ, 2006. ISBN 0 646 46142 7.
• Mildenhall, William James (1891–1962). Mildenhall collection of photographs of Canberra. National Library of Australia; accessed online 20 Apr 2020.